Lee wraps up visit to Italy, heads to France to attend G7 summit
President Lee Jae Myung delivers a speech at a hotel in Rome, Monday (local time). Yonhap
President Lee Jae Myung left Italy on Tuesday en route to Evian-les-Bains, France, to attend a Group of Seven (G7) summit.
The presidential plane carrying Lee and his entourage took off from Leonardo da Vinci International Airport for Geneva, from where the Korean president will travel by land to the French resort town of Evian, the final stop of his ongoing trip.
The president has been in Europe since last Tuesday, his first visit to the region since taking office a year earlier, to expand Korea's diplomatic outreach to Europe.
In Italy, the second stop of his trip following his earlier visit to Belgium, Lee held talks with President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, agreeing to elevate their countries' bilateral relations to a special strategic partnership and explore cooperation in semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI) and other strategic areas.
He also held talks with Pope Leo XIV and reaffirmed the Vatican's support for Seoul's efforts to build peace on the Korean Peninsula.
In Evian, Lee is scheduled to attend the G7 summit later in the day and on Wednesday as the leader of an invited partner country, marking the second consecutive year Korea has been invited to the gathering.